Coffee Table Redo

We finally had a free weekend to do whatever we pleased, so of course I filled it up with a little weekend project. The coffee table in our family room that we have had for 11 years has been steadily showing its years of service and dings and scratches. We had been trying to figure out if we wanted to send it to the DI, try to sell it cheap to someone or fix it up ourselves. I finally decided last week that we were going to do the 3rd option. I have never refinished a piece of furniture before so wasn't sure what we were in for. But off I went to Walmart for the supplies and this is how it went.

Step 1: We started with the stripping. (don't all good things start that way?) ;)

Step 2: We sanded, and sanded. Sorry no pics.

Step 3: We painted. A dramatic change from the dark walnut to the black.

Step 4: We distressed.

And finally Step 5: We glossed.

I had a hard time getting a good shot with the lighting in that room. But here's the results of the drop leaf coffee table both in it's out and in positions.

Overall, I love it! It looks so much better in person and so much better in that room. We also learned a few things along the way and are ready to tackle so more long overdue projects. Also, I realized while we were sanding that this was the very first piece of furniture that Mike and I ever bought together. I thought it was sweet that we were then refinishing it together. Awwwwwwww. I am so glad we opted for option 3.